Michael Hastings is best known as the Rolling Stone contributor whose reporting ended the military career of Gen. Stanley McChrystal but more important, he was a fearless reporter who did not suffer bullshit answers. He died Tuesday at the age of 33 in a car crash.

It might have been better for Gen. Stanley McChrystal if Defense Secretary Robert Gates had piped up a little earlier but, nonetheless, Gates comes to McChrystal’s, uh, defense in this interview with The Associated Press.

Rolling Stone scribe Michael Hastings is still riding high from his big score about “Runaway General” Stanley McChrystal—who has, it should again be noted, been obliged to evacuate the scene of the story since the piece was published—and now ...